Sculptural
Works
Pony
Express
Old
Oregon Trail
George
Washington
Abraham
Lincoln
Winter
Quarters
Angel
Moroni
Hawaii
Temple
Jesus
Christ
Joseph
Smith
Brigham
Young
US
Capitol Building
Three
Witnesses
The
Family
Prominent
People
War
Memorials
Hood
Ornaments
Garden
Statuary
Children
Animals
Website
Owner:
Jefferson Fairbanks, PhD,
grandson of the sculptor
Comments
are welcome
Related
Links:
Books
on the Sculptor Avard Fairbanks by Eugene F. Fairbanks:
"A
Sculptor's Testimony in Bronze and Stone"
"A
Sculpture Garden of Fantasy"
This
web site is non-commercial in nature, and was not created for the
purposes of selling art. Viewers interested in purchasing art may
visit FairbanksArt.com
for information regarding the sale of art.
links: LDSMusician.com,
LDSMusicNetwork.com,
LDSMusicWorld.com, LDSMusic.org,
BuyLDSMusic.com,
Medical
Physics and Radiation Oncology
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Avard Fairbanks the Sculptor
The
Old Oregon Trail by Avard Fairbanks
Dedication
of this monument was written in the Church News:
"A
monument by noted LDS sculptor Avard T. Fairbanks was unveiled April
24 in Boise Parks' Oregon Trail Historic Reserve honoring the nearly
500,000 pioneers who trekked the Old Oregon Trail to settle America's
western frontier . . . Delivering the dedicatory address was Boise
Mayor H. Brent Coles, who is a great-great-great grandson of Hyrum
Smith . . . Donating the sculpture was Jeff Fairbanks, grandson of
Avard Fairbanks (1897-1987), and his wife, Diane, of the Centennial
Ward, Meridian Idaho North Stake."
(click
here
for full Church News article):
This
sculptural bronze relief, 36 inches in diameter, was created in
1924 by Avard Fairbanks while he served on the University of Oregon
faculty. It was inspired by his friendship with Oregon Trail Pioneer
Ezra Meeker whose passion for recognition and preservation of the
Trail was legendary. It depicts a pioneer mother and babe-in-arms
in a covered wagon with her husband driving the oxen on a rocky
trail.
The
Oregon Trail was the “backbone” of transportation in the
early American West. Along it traveled the greatest land migration
in human history. From 1841 into the 1880’s, nearly one half
million pioneers trekked it to settle America’s western frontiers.
Some 20,000 perished along the way. It stretched from points along
the Missouri River into the Northwest Territories, and it encompassed
parts of the California Trails (“Donnor Party,” “49’rs,”etc.),
the Utah (“Mormon”) Pioneer Trail, the Pony Express Trail,
and the Overland Stages Trail.
Original
placements of this sculpture are in Baker City and Seaside, Oregon.
The Fairbanks design was also selected for the Oregon Territory
Centennial U.S. Postage Commemorative Stamp in 1948. This new bronze
casting is taken from the sculptor’s original model.
Avard
Fairbanks, Ph.D. (1897-1987) was America’s distinguished Sculptor,
Anatomist, and Educator of the 20th Century. In his career he created
over 100 public monuments to great characters and events in history.
(Four are found in the U.S. Capitol Bldg. in Washington, D.C.) He
studied in New York, Paris, and Italy, and he attained his Doctorate
in Anatomy at the University of Michigan where he was also Professor
of Sculpture. He served on the faculties of five American universities
and he was the founding Dean of the College of Fine Arts at the
University of Utah (his native state). He was a descendent of Utah
Pioneers (1847) and colonial Massachusetts settlers (1636).
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